“Yes, of course. This is the entire point of the book, isn’t it? To teach us to see things clearly and be honest in our feelings toward each other.”
“Good, because if I ever had you in my bed...no, that’s a little too honest for your innocent ears. Let’s just say that I very much like the sound of your voice. Before I move on to the next sense, let me add that your laughter is also sweet and alluring. No girlish giggles or drunken cackles that would make a man cringe.”
He moved over to settle beside her on the settee. “Next is the sense of smell.”
She almost shot out of her seat when he leaned in close and nuzzled her neck. Her blood heated, and her heart began to race. His lips were so close! When she felt his mouth upon her skin, everything stirred to life inside of her.
The butterflies in her stomach were in a frenzy.
She eeped.
The fiend! He knew exactly the effect he was having on her. “Why are you kissing my neck?”
“Two birds with one stone, Queen Pea. Scent and touch.” He did not stop nuzzling her or breathing her in.
And now he was also nibbling her ear.
Sweet heaven!
No one had ever done this to her before. How did any woman find the strength to resist this man?
“Three birds with one stone,” he whispered. “Scent, touch, and taste.” He kissed her along her neck and throat, then moved lower to place a feather-soft kiss on the swell of her breast before moving back upward and capturing her lips in a searing kiss that shattered any resistance she might have ever felt toward him.
Her traitorous lips sought his with torrid eagerness.
Even her body surrendered to his touch. Indeed, craved it.
They both seemed to realize something was happening that shouldn’t be and broke off the kiss hurriedly. “Ronan?”
He smiled and glanced down at their positions. She had somehow found her way onto his lap. His arms were still around her, and his eyes were hooded and smoldering. “That was nice, Dahlia.
“Heavens,” she whispered. “No, it was quite wicked. I think they would call this a compromising position. We behaved very badly just now.”
He arched an eyebrow, obviously amused. “Would you care to do it again?”
She scrambled off his lap. “I don’t think this is what the author of that book had in mind. Let’s pretend this never happened and read on. You’re supposed to find your duke’s daughter and–”
“So long as it isn’t Lady Melinda.”
“Right. But after the vote, what’s to stop you?”
“You, Queen Pea.”
She shook her head, dismayed. “Me?”
“Do you think I am unaffected by what is obviously going on between us?”
She shook her head again. “Why is this happening? This isn’t supposed to happen.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m...” She didn’t know. But Gerald had ridiculed her and told her she’d been a fool. How could Ronan feel differently about her? She clasped her hands together and stared into her lap. “Ronan, is this real? Or are you manipulating me? I’m not wise to the ways of seduction. I don’t know how to defend my heart against you.”
“Blessed saints, how can you think I’d ever give you cause? You can always trust me.”
“I want to, but it scares me.”
“I know, Queen Pea. I’ve been telling myself not to push you so soon after Wainscott. Were it not for this blasted vote and the Lord Admiral’s threats, I would have kept a solid distance between us for at least another month or two. But being in your company is proving difficult for me, as well. Perhaps it is a Brayden thing. Meet a girl and know within ten minutes she’s the one for you.”
“Not quite. We met months ago. It’s only now that you are starting to notice me.” Of course, this also assumed all of this was not a misguided error on his part.
“No, I meant what I said.” He was giving her that direct, steady look again. The one that always set the butterflies in her stomach fluttering.
They were doing so, quite madly, just now.
And her head was spinning.
“Do you think it was mere coincidence that I sought your favor when Robbie and I were entertaining you, Violet, and Heather with those silly jousting games along the Parliament halls this past October?”
“Wasn’t it?” She remembered those times vividly.
While Holly and Joshua were tucked away in Joshua’s office reading The Book of Love, the rest of them had passed the hours playing frivolous medieval games. Ronan and his friend, Robbie MacLauren, were their valiant knights. Their clerks had served as their pages.
With both Houses in recess and all the lords up in Scotland shooting grouse, the entire wing of this Parliament building had been empty save for them. So they’d treated it as their jousting field.
“No, I sought your favor on purpose.”
“Why did you not say anything to me back then?”
“I wish I had. Believe me, no one regrets the mistake more than I.” He raked a hand through his hair.
“I gave you my handkerchief as the fair maiden’s love token. And you were my valiant knight. Poor Robbie, you knocked him off his horse every time.”
He grinned. “I was better at riding a broomstick than he was. In truth, he’s in the Scots Greys. There is no finer cavalry regiment, and Robbie is among the very best of them. Had we been on horses rather than broomsticks, I would have been the one landing on my arse every time.”
“I doubt it.”
“Dahlia,” he said softly, “I thought you were the loveliest thing ever to step foot in Parliament. I would have said something to you then, but Wainscott was courting you, or so I believed. Also, there was some reluctance on my part. Romulus had married your cousin, Violet. Finn had married your cousin, Belle. Joshua was about to marry Holly. It was obvious to all of us that he was wildly in love with her.”
“We knew Holly felt the same. For years she’d avoided men, never once speaking of anyone but her late husband, and rarely even of him. Then suddenly, she was mentioning Joshua three times a day.” She shook her head and smiled. “She may as well have worn a sign across her forehead that said in large letters, I love Joshua.”
“Same for him. But when I suddenly found myself having similarly strong feelings for you, I thought it had to be a mistake. The idea that some young woman I hardly knew could hold any power over me was inconceivable. And another Farthingale, no less. I expected to get over this odd malady that was ailing me.”
“Ah, then I was little more to you than dyspepsia that you hoped would soon pass?”
“I think you are not someone I will ever get over. But let’s speak no more about it yet. It’s too soon for you, Queen Pea. Wainscott hurt you badly, and you need time to sort yourself out. When you’re ready, I hope you will find that I am the right man for you.”
Of course, he was going to be the right man for her. Who would not fall in love with him? Indeed, she strongly suspected Lady Melinda was being a thorn in his side because she did not want to give him up. Who could blame the young woman for her good taste?
More worrisome for her was Ronan’s protective instinct. This was very important to her. She could not be certain what he was feeling until she stood on her own two feet, strong and capable. Only then would she believe his instinctive desire to protect her was not blinding him to his true feelings for her. What he felt right now could only be sympathy for her being jilted. How could he mistake it for love?